An Owl's Rise

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Looking at the glowing balls of fog that has just formed in front of her, Evelyn was immediately wary.

She was currently breathing heavily, practically out of magical energy and stamina. Having only enough energy to hover and fly slowly.

And now all of a sudden something she had not seen before was happening, and her first thoughts were that it was some kind of trap.

Though as she thought about it, would a trap really be necessary in this situation as she was already in such a shape that probably a newly evolved fiend beast could beat her.

Also, this fog had been incredibly resistant to any magic she had used on it, and only her all-out attack with her heavenly flame had really any effect on it.

'What if the examiner left this here in case any of us some how made it past that queen spider. If they are looking for talent, then it would make sense to maybe leave a way for anyone lucky or skilled enough to get by to continue the trial.'

Trying to convince herself of this, Evelyn really wanted to hope that this might be a means for her to continue the trial to get into the Owls Roost.

This world was still very unfamiliar and dangerous, and while she was not thrilled to be associating with anyone, she knew it was necessary to advance herself in this world.

'I was just going to go in a random direction before. If it turns out to be a trap, then I guess I was just an idiot once again and deserve to die.'

Deciding to follow the path of glowing fog, Evelyn continued on flapping her wings as best she could in order to try and catch up to the examiner and the other owls.

However, as Evelyn left, a figure who had been hidden in a dense layer of fog smiled seeing her go down the path that they had laid out.

'It would be a shame to let an owl as talented as her fail after she fought off that queen spider who was almost an entire rank above her. That flame was also not something normal, it would be unfortunate if I was not able to study it further. Now, I wonder if she will be able to pass the other trials as brilliantly as this one. Oh, but first I need to contact Aldana and tell her to delay the second trial a bit so that she can catch up.'

Flying through the fog and easily overtaking Evelyn, the administrator of this exam and the humanoid owl that had been sitting in the central tree along with the two examiners hastily caught up to the examiner and relayed her orders to slow down.

Following the path of floating and glowing fog orbs, Evelyn continued on through the jungle which was now quiet.

It was almost unsettling how still it was as she had gotten accustomed to being attacked from all sides and keeping her guard up.

Yet for all her apprehension, nothing came out at her and the path remained quiet and peaceful until she saw a break in the fog.

A circular clearing had been made amongst a group of trees, and in it she could see that the remaining owls as well as the examiner were sitting in the trees.

It was at this point that Evelyn's assumptions that someone was controlling the fog were pretty much confirmed to her.

There was no way that a perfectly round area like this in the middle of it would have cleared out naturally, not to mention that these mots of floating fog lights had guided her here.

'I am definitely begin watched by someone and they saw my fight against the queen spider and decided that to lead me to this place even though normally I would have already failed.'

Realizing this, Evelyn wished she had not had to resort to using the heavenly fire so brazenly, since from what Mason had written it was a priceless treasure that anyone would want to get their hands on.

If a much stronger owl realized what she had in her possession, they might kill her to try and claim it.

Still, she could not back and change the past, and without her heavenly flame's power she certainly would have died.

Shaking her head and pushing her worries away, she flew into the clearing much to the surprise of the other trial goers.

Certainly, they had never thought she would survive and ambush from an awakened beast. The difference in power between them should have been so great that she should have died without putting up any resistance, but here she was now.

It was an irrefutable fact that she had somehow made it here. and the others trial goers could only guess she got supremely lucky and slipped away while the other owls were being slaughtered.

Some of them even wanted to protest that she had already failed since she had not been able to keep up with the examiner, but that option was quickly taken away as they all heard her speaking in their heads.

'Ah, it appears that we have a bit of a straggler but seeing as how you made it here before the second trial has begun, I will still consider you to have passed. We are testing your luck as well as other important attributes.'

With that any hope of the other owls to get Evelyn disqualified was dashed away, and they could only accept that she would be continuing.

'Now as I sped here a bit quicker than anticipated the second trial is not quite ready for us yet. Therefore, all of you shall have one hour to rest until it is time to begin your second trail. Do with your time as you wish.' The examiner said.

A number of the owls were surprised to hear this since they had not expected such a long break in between what were supposed to be arduous trials.

And normally they would have been right.

However, the administrator of this examination had taken an interest in Evelyn and had ordered that she be given a bit of time to recover.

'I truly do not understand her sometimes. But whenever something piques her interest, she goes to whatever length to satiate her curiosity.' The blue feather examiner thought as she shook her head and pictured the exam's administrator.